1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a seal or weatherstrip for a door and more particularly to a door bottom seal which is automatically actuated to seal the gap between a door bottom and its sill as the door is closed and automatically retracted when the door is opened.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, door bottom seals or weatherstrips comprise a flexible sealing element held within a mounting means attached to the bottom of a door. The purpose of the weatherstrip is to block drafts, light, noise, and foreign objects from passing through the space normally provided between the bottom of the door and the door sill. However, these sealing means are subject to wear and deterioration due to the rubbing of the sealing element against the door sill and floor as the door is opened and closed. This is especially true if the sealing element is forced against the door sill to obtain a more effective seal. Moreover, if the floor near the door sill is covered with carpeting, the sealing element causes undue wear on the carpet and requires unnecessary effort to operate the door. Additionally in actual installation the floor and door bottom are not necessarily parallel and therefore a completely effective seal is not possible with a fixed element.
Different methods of overcoming the rubbing and wearing problems of these sealing means have been attempted, including the resilient supporting of the sealing element in the mounting element, and automatic door seals such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,441 to G.W. Cornell for WEATHER STRIP, but they do not work as effectively as the present invention. The automatic door bottom of U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,788 overcame these problems and the following is an improvement over the device shown therein.